Red Thread
by Toasty Warrior
Summary: The red thread of fate, it is said to lead certain individuals to the person that is most important to them, in the case of Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, they're two individuals the red thread has chosen.


**Author's Note: I was actually inspired by a picture that I had seen on DeviantART to write this one shot, it was an amazingly drawn picture and looked almost like the real art from Naruto, but the picture I'm talking about was made by Starchii of DeviantART and it was entitled "Our Red Thread"**

It had been a few weeks since Naruto had comeback from the island where the two last remaining jinchurriki were supposed to be hidden, but unfortunately for them, their secret had been compromised by Kisame, who had been hiding inside of Samehada at the time and overheard Naruto's conversation on how he was finally able to overcome the hatred of the Kyuubi and master its chakra. Despite the new powers Naruto attained, he still couldn't stop just one lone member of Akatsuki from escaping, but nonetheless he turned his attention away from Kisame escaping and thought about what he had just been told by his mother, the truth about the night of the Kyuubi attack and the man that was solely responsible for the attack, Madara Uchiha.

His mother Kushina had told him how he easily extracted the Kyuubi from her and he was actually afraid for once in his life that he could end up in the same position as his mother, having the Kyuubi forcefully ripped from him. His friends had been bugging him left and right about how his training went and at the moment Naruto really didn't feel like talking since he had a lot on his mind. He wanted to escape from his friends for the moment and instead of going to Hokage Monument like he always did, he escaped to the Academy and sat on the swing he always used as a child.

It felt good to have sometime to himself right now, but unfortunately his mind wouldn't let him have a moment of peace as it wandered back to what Sasuke was up too, his former teammate and the person he had called a brother. He had still not given an answer to his friends on what he was going to do with Sasuke, but a small part of him doubted if he could save him from Madara's influence, he had seen a shed of hope when he told Sasuke that he would share his hatred with him and die, but yet it wasn't really what Naruto wanted. He groaned as he smacked himself on his face as he started to get more frustrated.

"Dammit Sasuke! Why? Why do you have to make this harder than it is… why did you have to leave Konoha to get revenge on your brother? I thought for sure you'd return once your revenge was done, but now Madara has further corrupted you into thinking that it was the fault of Konoha… can you truly be saved?"

At the moment Naruto was too busy to notice someone was watching him from behind one of the trees at the academy, but it wasn't who usually watched him from the shadows, it was someone different, someone Naruto knew very well, his teammate Sakura Haruno. Ever since he had come home from the island, he had said very little to his friends and it was starting to concern Sakura, despite her confession to him those months ago, she still cared deeply for her teammate and didn't like to see him acting like this. She decided that hiding away from Naruto wasn't going to solve anything, gathering all of her courage she walked up to him putting on the best smile she could.

"Hey Naruto…"

Naruto looked up from the swing seeing Sakura, but yet seeing her right now didn't help his thoughts out, but then again he would never be rude to his teammate, but instead of using his mask, he decided to give it a break giving Sakura a weak smile as he answered her back.

"Hey Sakura-chan… listen I don't want to sound rude and all, but how did you find me so easily?"

"That's quite simple, I just followed you here, you didn't even seem to notice me as you were walking here, I'm concerned for you Naruto, you're more quiet than usual, is it something you want to talk about?"

Naruto was about to tell Sakura to leave since he really didn't want to talk to anyone, but then again Sakura was stubborn just like him and wouldn't leave unless he gave her a reason as to why he was down in the dumps, Naruto just sighed as he spoke up to Sakura.

"It's really nothing Sakura, but if you really must know, it's about what I'm going to do with Sasuke…"

In the back of her mind Sakura knew it had something to do with Sasuke, ever since that day he had announced to him that he was going to die with Sasuke, it shocked Sakura to her foundation that he was willing to die with Sasuke, something she wanted to prevent, yet she wasn't anywhere near her teammate's levels and decided to just believe in Naruto and his words.

"I see, I know you're not going to change your mind about what you're going to do with Sasuke and all Naruto, but just remember we're always here for you no matter what…"

Naruto cracked a smile at Sakura's words and spoke up to her.

"Thanks Sakura-chan, I know my friends are always going to be here for me no matter what, but I'm sure you know I'm the only one that can take Sasuke on and get through to him and make him realize the errors of his ways…"

Sakura wasn't to surprised by Naruto's words, but yet she wanted to cry for him, but she had made a vow to herself not to cry anymore, she had to learn to accept that this was Naruto's promise of a lifetime speaking, he would never go back on it, it made Sakura smilie on the inside knowing just how far he was willing to go, but she didn't want to lose Naruto no matter what, she needed to step up now and tell him the truth.

"I know you were going to say that Naruto, but please for all of our sakes, please don't take any unnecessary risks, I don't know what I'd do if you went out there and died…"

Sakura held her head down as a few tears escaped her eyes. Naruto usually never liked seeing Sakura cry like this and he got up from the swing and walked up to her, embracing her in a hug, in hopes of calming her down, but yet as he hugged her, it reminded him so much of when he first met his mother and hugged her, she was so much like Sakura in a lot of ways and then it reminded him of what Kushina had said to him about finding a girl, "_make sure you find a girl that's like your mother_" Naruto cracked another smile as he kept embracing Sakura and thought it was as good as anytime to tell her of his mother.

"Shh, it's okay Sakura-chan… you don't have to cry…"

Sakura looked up at Naruto's face and saw his smile, for some reason it always made her feel better and calmed her down. She finally stopped crying, but yet Naruto wouldn't let go of the hug they were in, not that she didn't mind. Naruto took note of this and broke the hug while taking a few steps back and blushing a bright red while Sakura did the same. There was an air of silence for a moment as Naruto decided to break it.

"Hey Sakura-chan, did I ever tell you that I met my mother on that island…"

"What? What do you mean Naruto? I thought you never knew your parents?"

Naruto just grinned as he spoke up to her.

"Well, you see I actually do know who my parents are now…"

Naruto then explained to Sakura how he met his father when he went into his eight tailed state and how he also met his mother on the island battling the Kyuubi in order to master its chakra, but what really caught Sakura's interest was the story Naruto told her of how Kushina fell in love with Minato and how she hated her hair… it almost sounded like how she hated her forehead when she was younger.

"I can't believe it Naruto… that's quite an amazing story how you met both of your parents, from the sounds of things, they were amazing people."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner as he spoke up to Sakura.

"I know it is, but you know something, you remind me a lot of my mother for some reason…"

Sakura as always let her anger get the better of her as she got mad at Naruto and cocked a fist at him.

"What's that supposed to mean Naruto no baka?"

Naruto didn't ask as he continued to laugh only for Sakura to stop short of hitting him wondering what was so funny.

"See! That's exactly what I mean… you're just like my mother in that way, she punched me in gut for calling her a name, but yet what I find so strange is how my father fell in love with my mother… you remember right?"

"Of course I do! You said that your father fell in love with your mother because of her hair and how beautiful it looked and something about a red thread of faith that lead her to him…"

Sakura didn't finish her sentence as she realized what Naruto was getting at. The night at the bench… the way Sasuke had complemented her forehead and how charming it was, it made her realize that it wasn't Sasuke that said that because usually he would never say anything like that, the person that had complemented her forehead was none other than the man standing right in front of her.

"That night on the bench… that wasn't Sasuke was it Naruto. It was you!"

Naruto just nodded his head as he let what Sakura had found out sink in and when she did, she did something unexpected and wrapped Naruto in an embrace, crying like she had done earlier, but Naruto could sense that these tears were not of sadness, but of happiness and he just smiled as he let Sakura continue to cry in his embrace.

"Naruto… I… I don't know what to say…"

Just as Sakura was about to finish her sentence, Naruto put a finger to her lips to silence her as he spoke up to her.

"It's all right Sakura-chan, you don't have to say anything… I think that story my mother told me about, how the red thread of fate brings two people together, but unfortunately as you can see we don't have anything that signifies we're tied by that red thread of fate…"

Just then Sakura got an idea as she untied her hitae-ate and to the surprise of Naruto tied it around his forehead making him blush as she finished tying it to his forehead.

"There! Consider my hitae-ate like our red thread of fate, one that invisibly ties us together no matter what, but do you think that thread could be severed too Naruto?"

Naruto thought for a moment about Sakura's question to him and just smiled when he spoke up to her with his answer.

"There's always the possibility of it being severed Sakura-chan, but I don't see it happening to us…"

"What do you mean Naruto?"

Naruto laughed a little before he answered Sakura.

"I'm saying as long as we stay together nothing can sever that thread…"

Sakura seemed happy with Naruto's answer as she got up from the ground and offered a hand to Naruto which he gladly took and they joined hands walking back towards the village, unsure of what they future would bring them, but Naruto and Sakura's thread would prove to be the most difficult to sever as it was fueled by one thing that would see them through all the tough times ahead, a strong devotion of love to each other.


End file.
